OSI Chapter 30 – Treasure Chests, Rabbits And Credits?
“…What the h.e.l.l is this?”
Xu Liao didn’t know how to react to this.
“This Void world actually has treasure chests?! Don’t tell me that this is a virtual reality game world? So does killing demonic beasts also drop items? But they didn’t drop any treasures when I killed them just now… They didn’t give any experience points either.” He couldn’t stop wondering about the possibilities.
Xu Liao began to let his mind randomly wander. If not for the otherworldly technologies he recently witnessed, he wouldn’t even be thinking of the possibility of a virtual reality world. Though he could not totally imagine how they manage to do this, he still couldn’t suppress his curiosity and started walking towards the treasure chest that was identified on the screen.
According to his gaming experiences, a chest means there will be treasures – but it also meant that there might be battles.
Just within ten minutes, Xu Liao located the first chest. When he saw the chest with his own eyes, he couldn’t help but feel excited. The chest was coated in bronze, with trails of ornate wood carvings on each side of the chest. It looked extremely quaint. Xu Liao realized that it was also releasing a slight glow, as if it is afraid that n.o.body would find it.
Xu Liao swallowed his saliva as he approached the chest slowly. However, before he could even stretch out his hand, the chest opened by automatically. Xu Liao jumped in excitement and looked into the chest anxiously.
There were seven to eight items in the chest; a black tight-fitted suit with red highlights, an ancient looking crystal that looked rather technologically advanced, a small backpack with a camouflage design, two metallic boxes of biscuits, an exquisite bottle of mineral water and a small portion of triangular white shaped coins.
“This..! This is really getting similar to a game!” Xu Liao silently mused to himself.
He swung the backpack over his shoulders. The backpack was very light, much lighter than the usual school bag he brought to school. Xu Liao also tried to feel out the material but in the end, he couldn’t identify what it was.
Xu Liao’s eyes then landed on the ancient looking crystal. When he stretched his hand out to grab the crystal, a blinding light suddenly exploded from within.
“Found a sealed battle beast, permission to unseal?”
Xu Liao hesitated for a moment before realizing that this voice wasn’t from the Jasper Seven Stars Mantis Demon, but instead from the crystal on his hand. Xu Liao’s heart almost skipped a beat. But this made him believe that his own guesses were real about this world
“Unseal!” Xu Liao’s eyes narrowed. He stared curiously at the crystal as it started to crack slowly on his palm. Seconds later, a small fluffy head with two beady red eyes popped out of the crack. Then the beast suddenly hopped out and landed onto Xu Liao’s other palm. Almost immediately, Xu Liao could feel the spiritual connection between him and the bunny clad in snow-white fur.
“Battle beast Totem Rabbit. Allows the user to fly on gra.s.s. Allows promotion of host by 30%!”
“Only like this?!”
Xu Liao gave a huge sigh in disappointment. Compared to the Jasper Seven Stars Mantis Demon, this Totem Rabbit usefulness was almost nil. It can only allow improvement by thirty percent, and it doesn’t have any battle techniques. To Xu Liao, this isn’t even comparable to chicken rib.
With a wave of his hand, he sealed the Totem Rabbit back into the crystal and tossed it into the backpack. Then he also stuffed the tight-fitted battle suit, the box of biscuits and the bottle of mineral water into the backpack.
Just when he was about to grab the triangular white shaped coins, he realized he grasped nothing but air! Then suddenly a notification popped up in front of him: “Someone transferred 100 credits to you, would you like to accept?”
“100 credits? What is that?”
Xu Liao smiled wryly and casually asked the card without expecting an answer. To his surprise, the demon identification suddenly lit up in a brilliant gold light and displayed a sentence of words while explaining in a monotonous tone:
“Credits are the currency used by the Million Demon Clan. Compared to the exchange rate of RMB (Chinese Yuan), the rate is 1 Credit to 100 RMB, but extremely little people are willing to change credits for RMB. This is because the majority of the merchandise within the Million Demon Clan doesn’t accept RMB payment. The value of credit in the black market usually ranges from 150 to 180 RMB.”
Xu Liao once again shocked by the demon’s technology standards, he can’t help but murmur: “What a detailed explanation!”
At the same time, Xu Liao remembered the gold demon identification card he received. When he had transformed into a demon and was devouring everything within him, he was surprised that the card wasn’t absorbed by the Stars Devouring Formula as well. This made Xu Liao wonder what the demon identification card was made of.
Now that he know what credits are used for, of course he have realized that whatever he was experiencing right now in this Void world would have some sort of connection with the Million Demon Clan.
When converted, though ten thousand RMB is not considered a lot, but to Xu Liao as a Junior High School student, it was like a pot full of gold. Even if he collected all the New Year’s money and allowance for a year, it would only add up to a mere few hundred RMB. So to him, a hundred credits was considered a huge amount of money. Not to mention that a hundred credits in the black market was even higher than the official exchange rate.
Xu Liao didn’t loiter around the chest for too long, this time he excitedly ran towards the second treasure chest on his emerald screen. The second chest was inside a decrepit house. Judging the shape and intricate designs, it was exactly similar to the first chest. And it functioned the same way as the first chest as well, automatically opening when Xu Liao got close.
This chest had lesser items however. Only three items. A bunch of triangular coins and two daggers.
Xu Liao made the grasping notion toward the coins, and once again the demon identification gold card notified him with the same sentence: “Someone transferred 100 credits to you, would you like to accept?”.
Compared to acquiring the credits, Xu Liao wasn’t as excited when his gaze met the two daggers due to his previous experience. He casually swiped one and studied it.
The dagger had a length of 70cm and was at least two fingers wide. It was rather a common shape for a dagger and didn’t seem to represent any era. What made the blade seem different from others was the material used. It was transparent; when raised in front of Xu Liao’s eyes, there seemed to be bubbles boiling inside the blade, making the blade tip very sharp. When Xu Liao made a few swings with the dagger, it was as if he was holding nothing at all!
The backpack that Xu Liao found in the first chest so happened to have had two slots on each side of the backpack. He inserted both of the daggers into each slot and they fitted nicely in.
When Xu Liao had found these two weapons, he was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with joy in his heart. He even forgot that he was in this Void world that was full of dangers. Like a little kid, he repeatedly drew both daggers and slot them back in while having a large smile on his face.
At his age, it was natural For Xu Liao to have a liking for swinging swords and blades around. Besides, these two daggers were made rather exquisitely. Of course he would love them even more! He couldn’t even bear to keep them inside the bag.
After acquiring the items in the second chest, Xu Liao’s courage rose significantly. Initially, he was rather creeped out by the abandoned village, but now, he didn’t feel the pressurising feeling any more.
Xu Liao’s eyes burned with pa.s.sion as he dashed towards the third chest in the middle of the village. He rubbed his hands with glee, wondering what he would acquire next.
Translated by Gary. Edited by Jason.
ED: “…What the h.e.l.l is this?” -Xu Liao, 2016